Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Of the Cantrip literally requires potions of healing to be used, but heals less than a potion... why would I use the spell and not the potion?
Well, stats I gave were basically half a potion for half the healing, but it could have other benefits (such as range) and you could make it more efficient, I was just giving an example of "clearly not broken".
But again, If you're going to give a cantrip heal and add a caveat (like requires the use of a healing potion) sure you can give it range, but you've defeated the point of the cantrip. No current cantrip that requires M components expends those components. For if the point of cantrips is they can be used "limitlessly," limiting a cantrip just to have a healing one goes against core game design.
Currently, dms have one tool to challenge players: muntiple encounters to drain some of their expendable resources, like spell slots, so that by the time they get to the bbeg, they cant go nova on them.
If you only have one encounter, a healing cantrip might be less abusable, but players will go nova with all their expendable resources.
And if the dm DOES throw a bunch of encounters at the party to drain their resources, then a healing cantrip will make it impossible to drain resources for any healing.
This is exactly the sort of feature a power gamer would love, but i cant imagine any DM thinking this is a good idea. Players are ALREADY nigh impossible to kill. A healing cantrip, in any form will put the worlds biggest thumb on the scales of game balance, in favor of players.
Lets put it anothrr way: how many character levels, on average, do you play before your character dies?
If you die maybe once in an entire campaign, what about that suggests a healing cantrip is needed?
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire
First of all, that's not true -- as long as you're willing to toss the encounter building rules in the trash you can challenge them with one encounter -- and secondly, it's kind of irrelevant to my point, which is that having access to cantrip healing only matters if you have multiple encounters per day.
This doesn't mean I think a cantrip heal is a good idea, but it may be surprisingly irrelevant to many games.
" long as you're willing to toss the encounter building rules in the trash"
But if the dm is ignoring the rules, wouldnt they just look at the player builds, note that they have a healing cantrip, and just increase the encounter some.more?
All.the players who constantly push for power creep dont seem to realize that dm's will simply be forced to i increase the encounter deadliness to keep challenging the players.
Say the game, by the rules, has a 1% chance of killing a player per combat encounter. Some power gamer wants more power (more damage, more healing, doesnt matter) which ends up lowering the chance of killing a player to 0.1% per combat encounter. Combat will be so easy that players get bored and leave. (I cast my magic missile cantrip which does 200 force damage) And DMs will be forced to increase the difficulty of all encounters to get thr chance of killing a player back to 1%.
And you didnt answet my question about how often does your character get killed. I will assume its a rare, rare occurrence, which supports the idea that a healing cantrip isnt needed.
"This doesn't mean I think a cantrip heal is a good idea"
Well, dont leave us all hanging. Do you think its a good idea or not? Cause right now, its seems like maybe you do.
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire
D&D is specifically designed to have multiple encounters in an "adventuring day" (meaning between long rests).
If you want to add your own homebrew Healing Cantrip as a DM in your home game, go right ahead. The official rules have to work for everybody though, so they can't do it in the official books.
The concept of spammable spells is a 4e/5e thing, as people got more frustrated with the small number of spells at level 1-3 for casters. It was never meant to be the go-to for things like healing.
A free spell that costs nothing and can be spammed, vs a 50g single use item... why would you ever use the potion?
Yes, since at least 3e the authors have been trying to encourage the multi-encounter day, and since at least 3e players and DMs have been ignoring them. Not even published adventures obey the encounter rules.
Well, sure. Players love it because they can burn all their spell slots in one big nova battle. And dms do it because it makes powergamers happy.
Its the same reason third party content always contains overpowered nonsense: because it sells. Players want it, so they buy it, and then push dms to add it to their standard campaign.
Powwr creep has been going on since the 1970's
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire
No, it doesn't happen because the six encounter day is and always has been a stupid idea.
So, your bbeg's all live in simple, single room mud huts with a draft front door, no walled fortresses, no layered defenses, no guards, no traps.
Players just walk in the front door and attack the bbeg?
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire
It's not a "stupid" idea, just a limited one narratively. It makes a lot of sense if you're hacking your way through waves of undead in a dungeon, for instance, but very little sense if you're on a well-traveled road or in a city
Active characters:
Edoumiaond Willegume "Eddie" Podslee, Vegetanian scholar (College of Spirits bard)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Peter "the Pied Piper" Hausler, human con artist/remover of vermin (Circle of the Shepherd druid)
PIPA - Planar Interception/Protection Aeormaton, warforged bodyguard and ex-wizard hunter (Warrior of the Elements monk/Cartographer artificer)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Narratively, the appropriate number of encounters per day is almost always 1-3. As for guards: when you attack the guards, the encounter doesn't end until everyone who was alerted by the attack on the guards has been dealt with. Which, without extensive preparation, tends to be the entire encampment, and if the PCs are sneaking through doing sentry removal, every fight is going to be over in less than a round, because if the guard gets an action, you've already failed.
"Narratively, the appropriate number of encounters per day is almost always 1-3."
Which rulebook is that again?
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire
Nothing published by D&D, because D&D has always been obsessed with the nonsensical megadungeon, but as a practical issue, most dungeons are not actually big enough to support more than one encounter or two encounters, because your first encounter is going to alert the entire area, and they're either going to join the existing battle (turning the entire dungeon into one encounter), or they're going to attempt to group up (turning the dungeon into two encounters). Then you might add an introductory encounter (for example, the reason you were alerted to the dungeon in the first place is because monsters from the dungeon attempted to ambush the party on the road) to get up to three. To give an example of a different structure, the Five Room Dungeon is generally structured with only two actual fights.
Is that not what I am saying in my post? You just switched my wording but got to the same point?
Thats what i thought.
"D&D has always been obsessed with the nonsensical megadungeon,"
And dont forget their obsession with completely unrealistic dragons.
"most dungeons are not actually big enough to support more than one encounter or two encounters, because your first encounter is going to alert the entire area,"
I mean, if you want to homebrew that for your campaigns, sure.
" To give an example of a different structure, the Five Room Dungeon is generally structured with only two actual fights."
The 5 room dungeon is a set of guidelines specifically for making a dungeon that can be completed in a single session. If youre running a game tonight and havent prepped.anything, the 5 room dungeon is a way to make a one shot.
Tomb Of Annihilation, on the other hand, traps the party in the dungeon for several levels that take days in game time to clear, and possibly a dozen or two sessions to complete (i.e. months).
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire